The Toronto Maple Leafs have not developed any young players into stars during the entirity of the Auston Matthews Era, which has made it far more difficult to build a winning team around their four superstars.
The Toronto Maple Leafs may finally have done so with Matthew Knies, thus extending their window to win.
When you have Matthews and Nylander signed longterm, as the Leafs do, you'd think that your team would have a wide open championship window, but that doesn't ook like the case for the Leafs if John Tavares and Mitch Marner walk in free agency this summer, while they are stuck with an aging defense core that isn't great now and will only get worse, which limits the length of their window.
Developing a player like Knies into a star changes that and extends their window.
Matthew Knies Is Extending Toronto Maple Leafs Stanley Cup Window
When Knies came into the NHL, I knew he was big and could score, but I was skeptical, especially after seeing what Nick Robertson has done. Robertson was the highest-touted prospect and hasn't quite lived up to expectations, so I somewhat expected the same to happen with Knies.
His first season was a good rookie campaign, scoring 15 goals and registering 35 points, but his sophmore season has been incredible. With 18 goals in only 46 games already, Knies is on a 32-goal pace and is becoming one of the most reliable forwards on a nightly basis.
Knies is a beneficiariy of playing alongside Matthews and Marner each night, but his work-ethic is the reason why he's succeeding. He's an energizer bunny retreiving pucks, similar to how Zach Hyman played, but is two inches taller and 25 pounds heavier than Hyman, making him an even bigger force in front of the net.
Knies has continued to shown on multiple occasions that he has incredible hands in front, as that's where most of his goals have came from and it's all because of his work ethic. With Knies' ability to drive offense, he opens up the Leafs to multiple opportunities in the future.
Even if the team doesn't re-sign Marner or Tavares, they'll have the ability to re-sign Knies to a monster extension, as he's just a Restricted Free Agent. Depending on what Knies is looking for, they should be able to get a somewhat team-friendly deal too, especially if they give him a six-eight year extension.
Knies is a workhorse offensively, so even if they lose Tavares and Marner, Knies may eventually drive a line by himself.
I know the team walked away from Zach Hyman and Michael Bunting, but they were both much older and those contracts looked like they'd age poorly. Even if the Leafs signed Knies to an eight-year deal, he'd only be 30 years old when it expires, so locking him up and making him a big part of the future is a must for the Toronto Maple Leafs.